Port bat­tlers get edged out again

drive that set up an­other op­por­tu­nity for Hay­dock to again go over.

But South­port came straight back and cre­ated their own op­por­tu­ni­ties, com­ing close, be­fore a five me­tre scrum saw the South­port pack get the nudge on their op­po­nents, al­low­ing Josh Cr­tich­ley to charge over the line.

With only seven points in it, both teams knew that the next score was key, and for 20 min­utes nei­ther could find it.

South­port twice thought they had bro­ken through for a try, only to be called back by the ref­eree, both times for a for­ward pass. With the pres­sure mount­ing from the home side, Widnes found the chance to clear their lines, and a good chase put pres­sure on the South­port de­fence, caus­ing them to be pe­nalised for not rolling away, al­low­ing Owens the chance to kick the points and ef­fec­tively seal the match.

How­ever, South­port were not con­vinced, and to their credit im­me­di­ately re­sponded, de­ter­mined to get some­thing out of their af­ter­noon’s ef­forts.

An at­tack­ing run from Hill again set up ter­ri­to­rial ad­van­tage and af­ter good work from the for­wards, cap­tain Joe Mawd­s­ley was over in the cor­ner.

There was still just about time left to restart the con­test, how­ever Widnes were able to see the match out and claim their sec­ond vic­tory of the sea­son.

South­port should take heart in the way they re­sponded right at the end, sal­vaging two bonus points, and take this into their next match away to newly-pro­moted Tyldes­ley this Satur­day.